Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Free school for Harringay?
Primary school doesn't seem to be such an issue (apart from oversubscription).
What are people's views of secondary schools?
Is there a group of parents that would like to look into this?
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/frees...
If anyone is interested in setting up a free school for their children then please add me as a connection and direct message me...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21080809
A C Greyling is apparently trying to set one up in north London... Does anyone know more about this or where it's going to be?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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OK, fair enough. I am wrong and the local primary schools are much better than I my "damning with faint praise". They're so good in fact, that they're oversubscribed and their catchment zones are shrinking.
Now, the Council might have trouble with some things but they actually have the resources and ability to set up new schools. Schools require a lot of land which around here they stopped making some time ago. If the council can't do it, I don' think anybody else can unless they're willing to stump up for pushing some agenda like the many born again Christian millionaires in the city or the Saudis. Obi Wan, we need your money.
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Permalink Reply by David Barry on
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Councils are specifically prohibited by law from:-
1. Setting up a Free School.
2. Setting up schools of their own, if a new school is needed it has to be a Free School.
So these days if a council identifies a need for a new school it has to advertise for groups interested in setting one up.
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Which in my view, is odd, but true.
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Permalink Reply by Bob Lindsay-Smith on
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I was at one time interested in the proposed all-through (3-18 years) Free School that an organisation called AESE wanted to set up in the north of Tottenham. They have a site on the High Road, near the present Sainsbury's. Things appeared to be going well until there was a disagreement with the Harris Federation, who were to be their partners in the enterprise. According to the following report, Spurs are now involved:-
http://www.innovationunit.org/blog/201202/free-schools-responsible-...
It's difficult to know the truth about free schools - for example, there are
two diametrically opposed opinions in the above link!
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Just to be clear. There is no need for secondary school places in Haringey. In fact one local secondary school (John Loughborough) is proposed to close: http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/children-families/education/second... and others have surplus places.
Running small secondary schools is very difficult, the finances don't really add up, so you either have fewer teachers and a narrower curriculum or you pay the teachers less and presumably get teachers who can't get better paid positions in other schools.
What really doesn't add up is schools that aren't full. As schools are paid on a per pupil basis when your number of pupils goes down, so does your income. Unfortunately your staff and premises costs don't go down commensurately; so you end up with a school that is having to lay off staff, whilst trying to rebuild its reputation to attract more students. This is a vicious cycle often resulting in a slow death for the school.
This process takes years, years when there are students in the school. It is these young people who are being screwed by a situation in which they are absolutely blameless.
Those thinking of setting up a free school which will create/add to surplus places need to accept that they are actively undermining the other schools in the area. The effect of which is likely to be screwing the poorest, least socially mobile children they live next to.
I speak as someone who seriously considered setting up a progressive primary free school in Tottenham (where there was/is a severe need for places) but decided against it because I think actually we need a co-ordinated approach to school improvement, school place planning and our community's education. Free schools and academies are a distraction at best and a poison to local, democratically accountable, community education at worst.
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Well there has been a baby boom in London since 2005 so I guess you'll see the need for places starting in 2017 or thereabouts... or people will move out. Other than that, very interesting. Debate closed?
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Permalink Reply by ant on
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My kids haven't even started primary school yet so i've not worried so much about secondary schools around here yet, but what are the choices for Harringay kids to go to?
That John Loughborough you mention is Seventh-day Adventist so probably not for me anyway.
Looking at a map from RightMove shows 4 secondary schools within a few miles - Park View Academy, Hornsey School for Girls, Greig City Academy, and Wisdom Primary and Secondary School. Are they the choices? Whats an acceptable commute for a secondary school student, is it normal or uncommon to walk to school?
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Permalink Reply by ElleCarumba on
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Skinners Academy is just behind Manor House - it is in Hackney. If you are in the south Ladder or around the retail park, that would be a potential option
Wisdom is a private school.
Non-religious schools have usually allocated places on basis of proximity to the school so in most parts of London, children should be close enough to walk to school.
Of course, more and more state schools are doing things like selecting 10pc of pupils of spurious grounds like musical ability. Most(all?) Hackney secondary schools use a banding system where pupils sit an exam, are put into four bands, and the school takes 25pc from each band, based on how close they live.
One of the issues that concerns me about free schools/academies is the lack of oversight of their financial arrangements. This can be through malice/theft/corruption or through incompetence/naivety. There was an academy school in south London that signed an incredibly expensive deal for computers and IT services due to a lack of understanding by the head who had no experience managing finances.
The Copland Academy head, deputy head, bursar, chair of governors and HR manager in Wembley will be on trial for fraud later this year. If an academy/free school runs up huge debts through bad management or outright theft, what happens? The taxpayers/local council would have to bail them out because no one would want to see hundreds of children have their education suddenly disrupted if the school closed. They would be too big to fail.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Asher, [ ... Free schools and academies are a distraction at best and a poison to local, democratically accountable, community education at worst.]
Absolutely! Two years till the next election to vote these idiots out. Trouble is, all three main parties are useless ...
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Oh hang on a minute, on a completely separate issue Cameron has just announced an in/out referendum re EU membership if the Tories win the next election (as he responds to the UKIP threat) which might mean voters are forced into a single issue general election anyway .... oh dear! What a mess.
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Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on
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Bosh! and there you have it from Thérèse, brilliant!
Too many parents have little faith in their own ability to 'teach' and be good parents so they offset that guilt with moving within ten metres of a Ofsted graded outstanding school or guilt pay into private. The majority of time the children are in the parents hands and influence so teach them how to be good kids.
We have often thought of moving, but if we did it would be to a different town for a change not because I had no faith in my ability as a parent. I went to a 's**t' school.....okay point taken!
I also think Heartlands is in the catchment area for those on the north of the Ladder?
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"Too many parents have little faith in their own ability to 'teach'" - exactly. I would rephrase it this way though "Many parents have little faith in their own ability to parent" as I consider part of parenting teaching. I also consider myself to have gotten a lot of lucky breaks as a child and wonder "how the hell can I make sure my kids get those breaks too?".
I like Therese's take on homework, I think it should be banned. Social media in London is full of anxious parents going nuts over homework, ruining their relationship with their children. School is for learning, home is for loving and playing. Homework really takes the pleasure out of having children.
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As Birdy_Too says, Thérèse, brilliant!
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